Beercan work out..

[bfitzgerald]

I've been neglecting my 70-210mm, so it went out today again..bokehlicious! (which evidently means "fool" in Japan)
Anyone who bought a beercan for the silly low prices they sell for is far from foolish though..this is now my go to lens for portraits.

DSC04728aa.jpg

(116.68 KiB) Downloaded 2079 times

[sury]

Very nice capture Barry. I see some pixelation in lower right corner. Could that be my monitor?

Sury

[Birma]

Lovely portrait, Barry. Great bokeh too

[bfitzgerald]

No idea Sury just a quick downsize in PSP that isn't always the best for jpeg output
Looks like I'm flying solo on this..

Still the 70-210mm f4 is doing active duty for photo work too, old cheap but certainly not forgotten. Gets the odd weird look from Canikon users who sneer at the screw drive AF, I like using it, and it's a slap in the face for L glass posers too

DSC04685-3.jpg

(197.65 KiB) Downloaded 2044 times

[Greg Beetham]

The AF70-210/4 certainly does a good job BF, I can't join you I only have the MD70-210/4, I never got around to the AF version, and it would be a major task to find and remember which ones might have been taken with the old lens, and then go through the horrible scanning thing as well.
I probably should try and find a good AF one though.
Greg

[mvanrheenen]

I really like your candid portraits Barry! I'd like to join you, but don't have a beercan. It's also a bit of an overlap for me to get one, as I've got an 70-300G and 70-400G, which both have their own uses. A beercan would be too much.

Mark

[bfitzgerald]

Post away Mark a portrait is a portrait no matter what lens is used.
I was thinking about a 70- something lens the 400 is more than I would need..but you can share your thoughts on the 70-300mm G if you like and photos from either

[mvanrheenen]

Well, as someone that likes to shoot birds but doesn't want to spend a rediculous €13000 for a fast 500mm lens, the 70-400G is a great lens. It's sharp from f/8-f/11. AF is good, but the a580 in my experience is hit and miss a lot. I usually MF lately. One thing the 70-400 has too much of is weight. Especially when I'm on holiday, I never want to carry that much weight. Thát's where the 70-300G comes into play. Same goes for this lens: f/8-f/11 is the sweet spot.

Now, for portraits I was kind of supprised at how well both lenses are. Wide open (f/4-f/5.6) works great for portraits. What I did not like was how the a580 output is. I did a wedding with my 70-300G on an a350 and was awed by the output of that camera v.s. the a580. Skintones were spot on, even in hard lighting conditions.

I'll post some examples later.

Msrk

[Greg Beetham]

What puts me off the KM-AF70-210/4 is that it’s a 5 contact lens. It’s high time the lens was upgraded to 8 contacts, Sony doesn’t have to go berserk and modify it into a $1500 SSM lens at twice the weight like they probably will be inclined to do to justify the huge price difference between a new one and the existing old ones.

I think what everyone would expect is that Sony just modify the existing design with a distance encoder and the 8 contact base and leave everything else as is, well everything internally that can be changed over to plastic from the alloy the old one was made out of without compromising any functional quality that is.

It might take a reversal of policy to do it though, Sony appears to have lost interest in making screw drive AF lenses or at least seems to be trying to get rid of them out of the range and not add extra ones.
Greg

[Kalainen]

I've been neglecting my 70-210mm, so it went out today again..bokehlicious! (which evidently means "fool" in Japan)
Anyone who bought a beercan for the silly low prices they sell for is far from foolish though..this is now my go to lens for portraits.

DSC04728aa.jpg

For some reason this thread has escaped from me. Just noticed it, and especially this image - pure magic!! Such a perfect image and in its simplicity one of the best portraits I ever seen! a true treasure to that girl in a picture!

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[sury]

No idea Sury just a quick downsize in PSP that isn't always the best for jpeg output
Looks like I'm flying solo on this..

Barry,
I will dust off my beercans this weekend and post some photos. In fact I ended up having 2 copies due to
my stupid mistake of putting a decimal at the wrong place. I bought one on eBay and saw another one made
a bid at $50.00 and instead I had $500.00 (I did not have my glasses) and ended up getting it, for about $80.00.

Sury

[sury]

At home...



With HVL58 triggered remotely

[bfitzgerald]

Beercan is now being deployed for wedding duty, of course you get the odd funny look from Canon pro's (hmm old lens comments like that) Quite a useful lens you can use it inside though if the light is very poor I use the Tamron 90mm f2.8

DSC00277.jpg

(170.96 KiB) Downloaded 1870 times

[Kalainen]

Beercan is now being deployed for wedding duty, of course you get the odd funny look from Canon pro's (hmm old lens comments like that) Quite a useful lens you can use it inside though if the light is very poor I use the Tamron 90mm f2.8

Superb stuff, like everything from you!

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[bfitzgerald]

Guess nobody is shooting with their Beercan, but I am!

DSC00728.jpg

(167.64 KiB) Downloaded 1760 times